The image of the older lady becomes transposed with the image of Christ walking on the water as passes through her thoughts onto the subjects of religion. Through her atheist voice, the older lady examines her relation to religion and uses it as an example for those who live by such religious doctrines. Through this dreamlike journey to Palestine, the examination of her relationship to religion will serves as a lesson.

There are moments, the religious voice questions, as when in early morning the birds sing in their flight over misty fields that she feels content with earthly atheism. The religious voice cannot believe in this joy because it is momentary, symbolically shown through their migration. The atheist responds through an example of the religious doctrines, beginning to take an active voice within its narration. The atheist voice says there is nothing that the products of the classic imagination, "haunt of prophecy, / ...chimera if the grave," can offer that is concrete. The adjectives used, "haunt" and "chimera" show the classic ideas as unreal and only a figment of reality and cannot compare to the atheist's offering which is a concrete example of the incredibly beautiful offerings of the earth itself.

Shall chant in orgy on a summer morn

In the beginning of the poem, it is Sunday morning and the older lady, through whose awareness the question of religious faith is to be examined, is not at church. Instead she is sitting in her dressing room, dressed in a negligee, with oranges and coffee on the table. The weather is sunny and her pet cockatoo is out of its cage and flying about the room. All this helps to put aside the religious significance of the day. This helps to put aside the duty she feels under the Christian doctrine to go to church and celebrate the Christ's death and man's salvation. Symbolically, her dreams of the "old catastrophe" represent Christ's death, and the thoughts of her own death motivate her to think about her religious beliefs. In her imagination she crosses the seas to Palestine, the location of Christ's life, to symbolically show the journey of her mind to explore religious doctrine.

The atheist voice persist, that it is in our transitory nature of existence, the imminence of death, which thrills us with the beauty of existence. Without the knowledge that all things are to be obliterated, man would not see the beauty of life. In the very fact that all things are mortality, life is shown as wonderful, but this in itself denies "imperishable bliss."

Some common words found in the essay are:
Palestine Dominion, Wallace Steven's, Using Christ, atheist voice, religious voice, voice questions, atheist doctrine, stevens 6, lady's atheist, atheist voice questions, religious doctrine, imperishable bliss, stevens 5, earth earth, 6 atheist voice, shown lady's atheist, silent shadows dreams, divinity silent shadows,
Approximate Word count = 1769
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)